VERO BEACH — A badly decomposed body found in woods off Cove Drive in Vero Beach was identified Thursday as Jesse Scott Ellis, the man wanted in the March double shooting outside the Indian River County Main Library, authorities said.
Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey told reporters the remains recovered Wednesday by workers at a home were confirmed as Ellis through dental records. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition, he said, and evidence at the scene — including a belt bearing Ellis’ initials — pointed to suicide by hanging.
“We’ve never wavered from that,” Currey said of the investigation’s early conclusion that Ellis likely took his own life after the shootings. “Fortunately, we have a body to confirm what I’m telling you today.”
Ellis, 64, was accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife, Stacie Mason, and her co-worker Danny Ooley as the pair sat in a truck in the library parking lot in March. Both victims worked for the Indian River County Public Works Department and were romantically involved, police have said.
Witnesses reported seeing Ellis walk fully clothed into the Atlantic Ocean about a mile away at South Beach Park shortly after the killings. He refused help from fire rescue crews who encountered him offshore and was not seen again until the body turned up roughly two months later in a sparsely populated wooded area near vacant homes.
Currey said the discovery closes the case.
“Absolutely, this case is solved,” he said.
Police had maintained from the start that Ellis was likely dead, based on the circumstances and evidence left behind, including documents in his truck suggesting suicidal intent. The chief said he hopes the recovery brings some comfort to the victims’ families and the community.
An autopsy and additional DNA testing were pending, officials said.
The library shootings rocked the small coastal city and left county employees mourning two colleagues described as dedicated public servants.